The National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET-UG, 2021) results were out on the late evening of November 1, and earlier on the same day, Vice-President M Venkaiah Naidu interacted with medical students at the Siddhartha Medical College in Andhra Pradesh's Vijayawada. While speaking to the students, he emphasised the need to address the problem of manpower shortage in the medical profession, especially in the rural areas.
The Vice-President suggested making rural service mandatory before giving the first promotion to government doctors. He also recognised the need to attract more doctors to the rural areas by providing incentives and improving housing and other infrastructure. Expressing concern over the high levels of out-of-pocket expenditure on health, Naidu emphasised the need to make healthcare affordable and accessible to all.
In this regard, he underlined the need to increase public spending on the health sector. "At the same time, I would urge the private players in the health sector to join hands with the government in providing affordable state-of-the-art treatment modalities to the people," he added
Ruing that the medical profession has become heavily commercialised, he advised the budding medical graduates to lend a human touch while treating their patients. "Medical profession is one of the noblest professions and all of you should always remain committed to the Hippocrates Oath. Never deviate from the righteous path and maintain the highest ethical and moral standards," he said.
Focus towards research
Referring to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, Naidu asked the medical fraternity to be ready to tackle any such epidemic in the future by increasing their focus on research on emerging diseases. He advised the young medical professionals to not only adopt a healthy and balanced lifestyle, but motivate others too.
